Alec Schemmel

Alec Christopher Schemmel is a journalist from the Washington D.C. area who writes about a wide range of breaking news for The Daily Caller. In a recent health-focused piece, Alec Schemmel brought attention to a breakthrough “miniature liver” developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The American Liver Foundation estimates that 14,000 patients are on waiting lists for a liver transplant. The organ is currently supplied through organ donation, such as those extracted from brain dead patients who have been involved in car accidents.

Created from skin cells, the fully functional mini livers have been successfully transplanted into rats and kept alive for a period of four days within the host body. The short term use of the mini livers would be for those experiencing what is often a lengthy and fatal wait for a replacement liver. As the researchers describe it, acute liver failure patients could potentially survive for a significant length of time with just a “hepatic boost” and the mini liver.

In the long term, researchers hope to be able to apply the principles of the mini liver in developing a permanent skin cell-derived replacement for failed human livers.